Known for our fascinating selection of new and used titles, author events, enthusiastically diverse staff, and urban California aesthetic, DIESEL is the cutting-edge, high octane, community-radiating, independent neighborhood bookstore we all dream of hanging out in, getting imaginally turned on in, and literarily inspired by.

 

 

 

 

 

11.10.09

A Holistic Approach to Bookselling Yields Satisfying Results

From Wendy Werris' 11.09.09 article in Publishers Weekly:

 

Diesel’s bookselling philosophy, which aims to be casual and professional at the same time, is holistic. “We wanted to create a work environment that’s mentally healthy,” says Evans, “a collaborative effort where people are paid decent wages, have a health plan and can radiate into the community. We ask each employee to bring their whole self to work.” Without the constraints of a traditional workplace pecking order, and with just a few exceptions, Diesel’s 20 employees all multitask and participate in receiving, returns, shelving, and customer service. Eventually everyone takes their turn at being manager of one of the stores. Adds Evans, “Our customers are a part of the stores, too. Whether they’re hyper-literate or trying to be literate, they can stand around together and tell the other a joke.”

 

-- Read the full article.

 

 

10.29.09

Bookish Illusions of Steve Wolfe

"Today’s artists are a bookish lot. Whether or not they actually read a great deal, their reverence for highbrow literature can approach idolatry. But the painter and sculptor Steve Wolfe has taken his bibliophilia to unrivaled extremes. With extraordinary skill and ingenuity, he creates copies of used books that are so true to their subjects that it’s hard to believe that they’re not the real thing.

"Copying book covers may seem like a simple-minded idea, but the experience of Mr. Wolfe’s works is surprisingly rich — visually, conceptually, psychologically and sociologically. Above all, you sense in his art a kind of monkish devotion that turns feats of technique into icons of a deeply personal religion."

Steve Wolfe on Paper is currently on view at the Whitney Museum, NYC, through Nov. 29, 2009.

-- From Ken Johnson's NYT article, 10.19.09; image via Luhring Augustine.

 

 

10.21.09

National Bookstore Day

Saturday, November 7 2009 is the first annual National Bookstore Day! With so many choices in our consumer culture, finding something genuine and uniquely independent can be a dizzying proposition. Not so with indie bookstores - we're knowledgeable, quirky, and dedicated to helping you find the book you've always wanted to read. There will be parties across the country, and no shortage of great books, as this fall is one of the strongest seasons ever for quality literature. Tell your friends, tweet about it, shout it from the rooftops, and show your support for what we do on Saturday, November 7!

 

 

 

10.16.09

Campaign for Reader Privacy

Groups representing librarians, booksellers, authors, and publishers, who have been working together for five years to restore the safeguards for reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA Patriot Act, are urging Congress to expand proposed protections for library records to encompass all books, whether borrowed or purchased. Calling draft revisions to the Patriot Act "positive but inadequate," the groups, speaking as the Campaign for Reader Privacy, today called on Congress to address the root causes of public concern about Patriot Act powers that afford the government easy access to information about what people are reading.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year, allows the FBI to obtain any "tangible thing," including any business records that are "relevant" to an ongoing investigation. In approving legislation extending Section 215 for another four years, the Senate Judiciary Committee last week acknowledged privacy concerns by providing additional protections for library records. A Section 215 order can be used to obtain "library records or patron lists," only when those records pertain directly to someone suspected of terrorism or espionage. However, this added protection would not apply to the records of bookstore customers. They can still be searched even when the customer is not suspected of criminal conduct.

 

-- via the CRP, 10.15.09.